BOXING GYM DOES SO MUCH MORE FOR KIDS THAN TEACH THEM A SPORT

“MMA is here to stay, but it isn’t going to replace boxing, which isn’t going away,” he said. “Internationally, boxing is very strong, while in the United States, it is more of a niche sport, as most everything is except the NFL. I’m not shilling for boxing. It shoots itself in the foot and this has been a particularly bad year. But it’s been much better than it was in the ’90s.

“The big problem, in my opinion, is that the sport isn’t covered. The media has stopped doing that. But starting about 10 years ago — by accident, really, because no one’s running it — we started to see better matches that people want to see, everything but (Manny) Pacquiao and (Floyd) Mayweather.

“My big mantra is that boxing is neither as bad as people think nor as good as people say. But the only place you can have that discussion is in America, because it’s strong everyplace else.”

To me, the problem is the heavyweight division. There isn’t one in this country, and heavyweights sell. They’re the hooks. I covered just about every major fight in the 1980s and into the 1990s and, believe me, there is nothing in sports that can match the electricity of a heavyweight championship fight. And that’s gone.

“I was just in Europe doing a (British heavyweight) Tyson Fury fight,” Bernstein said. “He’s 23 years old. If he were fighting 15 years ago, no one would pay attention to him. Now he’s ranked 15th in the world.

“It’s like tennis in America. We are bereft of American heavyweights, and there is so much mythology there. It’s an amazing thing, especially when you consider the other divisions are populated with terrific fighters.”

But the main topic for the day was not to be boxing. It was to be Billy Moore and ABC and the wonderful work he has done.

After we finished talking, Billy walked me out to my car. He looked around and became a bit emotional and waved a hand.